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Old 05-20-2020, 11:35 PM   #1
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Title/registering in CA

Hello! I am looking around currently to buy a bus, haven’t decided on what size yet but leaning towards a mid sized bus. I currently reside in CA.

I’ve read several places about the lax laws in Vermont when it comes to titles/registering, with school buses but also with other kinds of vehicles too. I’ve bought several project vehicles in the past with no titles or difficult situations but I’ve just gone through CA dmv and paid more than I should have.

Has anyone here gone through the process of registering in Vermont and then transferring to CA? Any pointers or is it pretty straight forward? Will Vermont require pictures/proof of titling it as an RV? I vaguely know about needing 3 things like a bathroom, kitchen, bed, etc, to qualify as an RV, or is that only for insurance purposes? When it comes time to transfer to CA, will CA require any sort of physical inspection?

Any advice/sharing experiences would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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Old 05-21-2020, 04:45 AM   #2
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The whole point of VT is no requirements, you want MH rego you got it.

But CA I believe will require inspection.

Some states vary by county.

You can always just keep as VT, so long as you are a nomad.
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Old 05-21-2020, 06:32 AM   #3
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The whole point of VT is no requirements, you want MH rego you got it.

But CA I believe will require inspection.

Some states vary by county.

You can always just keep as VT, so long as you are a nomad.
I think some states (CA included?) require you to have your vehicle registered in the state you reside in. I haven't researched this because I don't want to find out my state is one of these.
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Old 05-21-2020, 09:10 AM   #4
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I think some states (CA included?) require you to have your vehicle registered in the state you reside in. I haven't researched this because I don't want to find out my state is one of these.
All states I believe, but only enforced in a few, CA being one.

In theory where **you** reside has nothing to do with it, the question is, has **the vehicle** been in the same state for 90 days or whatever the number is.

But that's why I put the "nomad" qualifier.

If you are traveling around CA in a VT bus, with a foreign DL, letterbox address in TX whatever, no worries.

However if you are a S&B dwelling citizen, become a student or get a job in CA, then you become "a local" and the cops may notice you.

_______
Keep in mind the millions of people with homes, boats, vehicles etc scattered around registered in multiple states.

The human can only be legally domiciled in one of them.

Registration, insurance and property tax issues are similar, depend on where **the property** is located, "garaged".

Some higher-tax states make life difficult, but in the end if you know the rules, your paper trail (entries in computer databases) does not need to provably match physical reality.

Especially if you aren't spending lots of contiguous time in one location where they care about this stuff.

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/howto-find-insurance-for-your-state-28907.html

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/u...ion-29088.html
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Old 05-21-2020, 09:12 AM   #5
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Yes California requires a vehicle be registered here if it spends more than three months out of the year in the state regardless of where the owners legal residence is. Although I’ve never heard of it being Enforced.

California only requires an inspection for vin verification and for changing the title.

If I were to do it again I would go straight to Vermont get registration then bring it to ca dmv for registration.

Vin verification is required on all vehicles transferring from out of state. I had to do this just to get it registered/titled as a bus in California.

To change the title to motor home requires a different inspection where they verify it is no longer able to be used as the old vehicle was. I asked the lady at my local dmv what was required for the title change and her reply was “it needs to be a motor home, when it’s finished bring it in and we can change it” no references to specific requirements from her.

Vermont just cashed my check for MH registration and I may try and take that in to prove it’s a motor home, but ca already has record of mine being a bus so they will likely still require an inspection if my past experiences with them are any hint
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